Newcastle United face Tyne-Wear rivals Sunderland in the third round of the FA Cup.
Eddie Howe expressed his surprise at Newcastle United’s FA Cup third round draw – and admitted he thought someone was playing a joke on him!
On the first weekend of January, the Magpies head to Sunderland for the first Tyneside derby in eight years.
Since their last meeting, both teams have been demoted to the Championship. However, while Newcastle returned to the Premier League at the first try, the Black Cats were relegated to League One.
The Wearsiders spent four seasons in England’s third flight before being promoted in the same season that United was taken over by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
The rivalry will be reignited next month, with Howe’s club hoping to become the first Newcastle team to win a derby since August 2011.
“I thought someone was winding me up,” Howe explained. “I didn’t hear or see the draw, so I had to rely on others to inform me.” I assumed it was a prank at first. It’s a fantastic draw, it’ll be a wonderful game, and we’re looking forward to it.
“It is a long way down the line for us as we have a lot of games before then so we’ll put it to the back of our minds. But certainly, it’s something to look forward to.”
“You want to play in big games and games that mean something,” Howe added. “This game means so much to everyone. I was enthused by the draw, I think it’s a great thing for us.
“The game comes at the end of a lot of fixtures and our record in the FA Cup in the last two years hasn’t been good.
“It’ll be an explosive atmosphere and one that we’ve been used to this season. We’ve played in a lot of highly charged stadiums with a lot riidng on the game, and that’ll be another. It’s something we have to enjoy.”
The Magpies had previously lost six matches in a row against their bitter rivals before playing out a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park in their last meeting in March 2016.
Howe said: “I wasn’t fully aware of the recent record in those games until the cup draw how we fared in recent years and it hasn’t been good. Our recent results have been disappointing so I think that’s another incentive for us to try and win the game.”
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